Concepts 1
The principle that government power derives from the consent of the governed — people hold ultimate sovereignty.
What is Popular Sovereignty?
This concept protects individuals from arbitrary government action by dividing power and preventing any single branch from dominating.
What are Checks and Balances?
This 17th-century document created a “civil body politic.” These were the original colonists who settled the New World and made the first example of representative government for America.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
This Enlightenment philosopher argued that people are born with natural rights—life, liberty, and property.
Who is John Locke?
The first three words of the Constitution that express the idea of self-government.
What is “We the People”?
This idea says that people agree to form governments to protect their rights, giving up some freedoms in exchange for order and security.
What is the Social Contract?
This principle divides government responsibilities into legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
What is Separation of Powers?
Colonists invoked this 1215 English document when protesting the Stamp Act, arguing it protected their rights such as “no taxation without representation.”
What is the Magna Carta?
This thinker believed that government power should be divided into three branches to prevent tyranny.
Who is Montesquieu?
Under the U.S. Constitution, this entity has the power to declare war, conduct foreign policy, and coin currency.
What is the federal government (Congress / national government)?
This principle explains that the government’s powers are limited and defined by a governing document.
What is Constitutional Government (or Limited Government)?
The idea that government and its officials are bound by the law and cannot violate it.
What is the Rule of Law?
This 1776 pamphlet argued for independence and heavily influenced the American Revolution.
What is Thomas Paine’s Common Sense?
In a representative government, this civic responsibility is the primary way citizens exercise their political power.
What is voting?
These 88 essays were written to support ratification of the Constitution.
What are the Federalist Papers (written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay)?
The idea that the state must respect all the legal rights owed to a person, ensuring fair treatment.
What is Due Process?
This concept ensures that national and state governments share power in a structured system.
What is Federalism?
This rebellion revealed the need to revise the Articles of Confederation.
What is Shays’ Rebellion?
This philosopher argued that if a government fails to protect natural rights, the people have the right to replace it.
Who is John Locke?
After the 14th Amendment, a person becomes a U.S. citizen by this method.
What is being born in the U.S. or being naturalized?
This case invalidated state bans on contraceptives, establishing a right to marital privacy.
What is Griswold v. Connecticut?
The President is chosen by this group, as decided at the Constitutional Convention.
What is the Electoral College?
Shays’ Rebellion and economic crisis led to this historic meeting.
What is the Constitutional Convention?
The Framers rejected monarchy and instead chose this form of government based on civic participation, elections, and rule of law.
What is republican government?
This case ruled that speech presenting a “clear and present danger” is not protected by the First Amendment.
What is Schenck v. United States?